About the difficulty of the game: It was definitely frustrating for me to keep getting killed by the chieftains in the early going. Once I did enough side quests and minor kills, I had enough strength to really start cleaning up.

I'll probably go day 1 on this, and maybe for the DLC too since I played it all in the original game. No trinkets, though.

for sure, difficulty was really hard to start. needed to spend lots of time killing wart-hogs in the forest to build up XP.

I don't recall having much of an issue with difficulty outside of the first couple hours (learning the game). I just made sure not to run into big mobs, or higher level bosses. Then again, I tend to focus on side quests/errands and leveling before going 'full-on' in the main game. That could have played a part.

Dual Shockers has a brief story on the game play and the new Nemesis System......it's worth a read explain pretty much what's in the trailer. One thing they did mention was this new Shadows of War first started to be worked on in 2014

And this one from Gameinformer has even more depth as they interviewed Monolith VP of creative Michael de Plater showcasing and talking about all the possibilities with your Orc Army....pretty cool stuff....and makes you wonder about this comment...

“This is between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and we can actually tell a story that can shine some interesting new light on things that you think you knew. I’m not to give anything away, but the Nazgul in particular – that’s really a fun place for us to focus.”

The thing is...this is "Alpha" footage...and I was reading some of the comments from one of the links and some clowns were complaining about the graphics...which they had to be reminded it was a Alpha Stage...

It's what we're not seeing in the video along with the VP commenting on keeping true to the LOTR and leaving the door open to possibility of seeing known characters...just the thought of the Nazgul alone is great. And having a upgraded Nemesis System with a Orc Army at your command...who wouldn't want that let alone flying around on a Dragon.....

__________________XBox 360 -BuzzZaw66PSN -BuzzZaw82

"If there's nothing wrong with me, then there must be something wrong with the universe" -Dr. Crusher-Star Trek

After not playing Shadow of Mordor for more than a year, I'm going back to finish the game. I'm 4 main missions away but still have countless of side missions to go. This should prepare me for this sequel coming up in August. It's an easy buy for me.

I'm not sure where your friend got the idea of not being a open world....it even states that the new one "is a open world RPG" in the video above at the beginning. In fact choice wise probably even more so. There was a story the other day where it will be close to 100 options in the level tree. And as in the video the New Nemesis System will be unique and no two players will have the same experience.

__________________XBox 360 -BuzzZaw66PSN -BuzzZaw82

"If there's nothing wrong with me, then there must be something wrong with the universe" -Dr. Crusher-Star Trek

The only gearing that you had to concern about in the first game was the runes but it seems that this game its going to a similar route like the action RPG games like Diablo in terms of gearing armor and weapons.

Edit - I'm not sure how to embed the video at IGN but I have copied the link to the video.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War has been delayed from its originally planned August release date, developer Monolith Productions has announced.

According to a post from developer Monolith Productions' community manager on behalf of the game's development team, Shadow of War will now be released worldwide on October 10. A different release date will be announced for certain territories, including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, according to the post.

When Warner Bros. first unveiled the Shadow of Mordor sequel earlier this year, the game had an August 22 release date for North America and August 25 in Europe.

"Middle-earth: Shadow of War expands gameplay in every dimension, including the massive open world, the story, the RPG systems, and personal player stories of the Nemesis System," the post reads. "As with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monolith is committed to delivering the highest quality experience. In order to do this, we have made the difficult decision to move our launch date to ensure that Middle-earth: Shadow of War will deliver on that promise.